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Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
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?–1907Taranaki leader, prophet
Te Whiti-o-Rongomai III was a descendant of both Awanuiārangi, the founder of Te Āti Awa of Taranaki, and Tahuaoariki. More directly, he was descended from Te Rangiāpitirua, paramount chief of Te Āti Awa, and Korotaia. Te Rangiāpitirua is considered to have founded the hapū within which Te...
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1935–1955Ngāpuhi; criminal, murderer
Edward Thomas Te Whiu was one of the last four people to be hanged for murder in New Zealand, and his 1955 execution was to give impetus to the campaign to abolish capital punishment. He was born at Waipapakauri, Northland, on 27 February 1935, the seventh of twelve children of Thomas (Tāme) Te...
Story: Te Whiu, Edward Thomas
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?–1881Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa leader, missionary, assessor
Te Whiwhi, sometimes called Te Whiwhi-o-te-rangi, was the son of Te Rangitopeora, the sister of Te Rangihaeata, a woman who held a foremost place among Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Raukawa; she was the daughter of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister. Te Whiwhi's hapū were Ngāti Huia and Ngāti Kikopiri; he...
Story: Te Whiwhi, Hēnare Mātene
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1915–1971Ngāti Raukawa; singer, carver, artist
Īnia Mōrehu Tauhia Wātene Iarahi Waihurihia Te Wīata (originally Te Iwiata) was born in Ōtaki on 10 June 1915 to Wātene Te Wīata and his wife, Constance Helena Johnson, also known as Kone (Connie) Papi Nīkora. His father was of Māori–Scots descent with affiliations to Ngāti Raukawa; his mother...
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1826/1827?–1887Goldminer, mariner, castaway
James Teer was born in Newcastle, County Down, Ireland, probably in 1826 or 1827. His father was Thomas Teer, a fisherman; his mother's name is not known. The family earned their living in a poverty-stricken fishing community, and from an early age James was familiar with the sea and with...
Story: Teer, James
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1828–1868Soldier, writer, artist
Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky was born at Königsberg (Kaliningrad), East Prussia, on 15 February 1828. He was the younger son of Julius Louis von Tempsky and his wife, Karoline Henriette Friederike Wilhelmine von Studnitz. Gustavus von Tempsky came from a Prussian military family and was...
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1886/1887?–1957Ngāti Whakaue; Anglican priest
Born in Ōhinemutu, Rotorua, probably in 1886 or 1887, Pāora Temuera, sometimes known as Pāora Ngatapu Temuera, Pāora Temuera Tokoaituā or Pāora Tokoaituā, was the elder son of Temuera Tokoaituā, a Ngāti Whakaue Anglican Māori missionary, and his first wife, Tuihana Pāora. He grew up at...
Story: Temuera, Pāora
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1830/1831?–1930Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Whatua woman of mana, ship owner, land claimant
Rāhui Te Kiri was born at Pākiri, on the east coast of Northland, in 1830 or 1831. Her father was Te Kiri, a chief of Ngāti Wai, and of Te Kawerau and Ngāti Manuhiri hapū of Ngāti Whātua. Rāhui's mother was Pepei of Ngāti Whātua, probably of Te Taoū hapū. Rāhui inherited Te Kiri's land rights...
Story: Tenetahi, Rāhui Te Kiri
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1898–1976Dentist, politician, educationalist
William Blair Tennent (always known as Blair) was born at Greymouth on 4 December 1898. His parents were Elizabeth Blair and her husband, David Tennent, a clerk and later a timber merchant. After attending Greymouth District High School (where he was dux), Tennent graduated BDS from the...
Story: Tennent, William Blair
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1873–1952Racist, murderer
In 1905 the New Zealand public was startled by the calculated murder of an elderly Chinese in Haining Street, Wellington. Joe Kum Yung was killed by Lionel Terry, a young Englishman who wanted to draw attention to his views on alien immigration. Terry's belief in racial segregation and his...
Story: Terry, Edward Lionel
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1840–1933Stonemason, carver, engraver, medallist, jeweller
Ferdinand Anton Nicolaus Teutenberg was born in Hüsten (Neheim-Hüsten), Westphalia, Germany, on 4 December 1840, the son of Franziska Koppeins and her husband, Ludwig Teutenberg, a gunsmith to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. Anton (as he was known) learned his trade as an engraver with...
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1870–1958Farmer, bookseller, ethnological collector, archaeologist, museum director
David Teviotdale was born at Hyde, Otago, on 17 June 1870, the son of Alexander Teviotdale and his wife, Mary Ann Caldwell. His Scottish father had followed the goldrush from Australia to Otago in 1862. After acquiring sufficient capital, he had bought into the Fourmile Sluicing Company,...
Story: Teviotdale, David
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1870–1939Doctor, local politician, sports administrator
Henry Thomas Joynt Thacker was born at Okains Bay, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, on 20 March 1870. His parents, Essy Joynt and her husband, John Edward Thacker, a former editor of the Sligo Guardian, had come to Canterbury in 1850. John Thacker became a dairy farmer and sawmiller at Okains Bay...
Story: Thacker, Henry Thomas Joynt
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1830–1878Singer, entertainer, songwriter
Charles Robert Thatcher was born in Bristol, England, on 21 August 1830. He was the eldest son of Sophia Matilda Hossey and her husband, Charles Robert Thatcher, a conchologist, a dealer in curios and a Methodist deacon. Before Charles junior was 10 years old, his family had moved to Brighton,...
Story: Thatcher, Charles Robert
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1814–1890Architect, public servant, clergyman
The youngest of the four children of Robert Thatcher and his wife, Mary Ann Stanford, Frederick Thatcher was born on 5 September 1814 at Hastings, Sussex, England. His mother owned land, and his father was a riding officer.
By the late 1830s he was practising as an architect and surveyor...
Story: Thatcher, Frederick
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1852–1933Merchant, philanthropist, collector
David Ezekiel Benjamin, later known as David Edward Theomin, was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, on 25 April 1852. His father, Joseph Benjamin, a Jewish minister, had emigrated from Prussia earlier in the nineteenth century and discontinued the name of Theomin. His mother, Esther...
Story: Theomin, David Edward
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1888–1966Philanthropist, mountaineer
Dorothy Michaelis Theomin was born in Dunedin on 24 December 1888, the second of two children of David Edward Theomin, a merchant, and his wife, Marie Michaelis. She was first educated at Braemar House, the Misses Miller's school in Dunedin. By then she had already gone abroad with her parents...
Story: Theomin, Dorothy Michaelis
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1793–1864Businessman, coloniser, music teacher
Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry claimed that he was born in April 1793. He was the eldest son of Charles Antoine de Thierry, or Thierry, a French merchant mariner, who had settled at Versailles as an equerry at the French court, and his wife, Marie Louise Pierrette, or Louise Antoinette,...
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1857–1937University professor, biologist, educationalist
Algernon Phillips Thomas (the name Withiel was added later) was born on 3 June 1857 at Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, the fifth of eight children of Edith Phillips and her husband, John Thomas, an accountant. Algernon had a grammar school education and then went to Balliol College, Oxford, on a...
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1803–?Surveyor
Joseph Thomas is said to have been born in Worcester, England, in 1803. His parents' names are unknown; his father was a former Portsea barrack master. Thomas served as an ensign in the 101st Regiment in 1816. In 1819 he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a 'Gentleman Cadet', and...
Story: Thomas, Joseph